Hoping for Superchargers, but think it might be something more on the financial side.

vgrinshpun | 25 Mars 2013

Q1 results: exceeding sales AND margin projections?

Nicu.Mihalache | 25 Mars 2013

"Am going to put my money" means his own money, not Tesla's.

It means another raise in which Elon has to go in in a major way. Because the one 6 months ago, which "was not really needed" but only for "extra cushion" and "future models' development" melted away?

I may be too pessimistic, but it smells bad to me :(

elguapo | 25 Mars 2013

Q1 results aren't until May. I think it may be something like what SeekingAlpha is reporting. TSLA will do a big secondary to paydown/off their loan from the US Government and Elon will buy a big part of it. If he's putting his "money where his mouth is", I don't think it will be superchargers, but another big investment in TSLA. Either way, it will be interesting and give me something to loook forward to as I wait for my Model S (Apr/May).

jk2014 | 25 Mars 2013

First Elon is going use his SpaceX pay to buy 50m worth of common stock (put money where is his mouth is). Then announce Tesla is going to increase production to two shifts (650-800per week) and a nationwide Supercharger network will be in place by December. Then the surprise "one more thing"... new supercharger tech will decrease charge time by 50%... 150 miles in 15 minutes, full charge from 0, in 30 minutes...

fluxemag | 25 Mars 2013

Nicu that was my first thought as well. Although I don't know if that would qualify as "really exciting" news for Tesla.

Nicu.Mihalache | 25 Mars 2013

@ elguapo - paying a low interest early when you need a lot of resources to develop production, delivery system, superchargers, marketing / sales, customer communication, international expansion etc. would be a terrible inefficient use of cash; can you think of a worse use of $$$ ?

jk2014 | 25 Mars 2013

Why would Elon be excited about a secondary offering? He's excited because he has good news on some aspect of sales, technology development, or some sort of new partnership...

Nicu.Mihalache | 25 Mars 2013

@ fluxemag - probably it will be sugarcoated in some exciting promise; given the cash situation, it is of course much better to paint it rosy and make it exciting; and obviously, if that $$$ is needed, they should not increase risks by waiting too long; not to mention that raising money above $35 / share is quite sweet :)

only that us investors will again wait for next turn to play again :(

Electron | 25 Mars 2013

I don't see how another offering could be "really exciting". Diluting shares, and printing more money is not a really exciting announcement, It's depressing. This will be technology-related somehow.

jk2014 | 25 Mars 2013

Or maybe he's going to announce he's got another cameo in the upcoming Ironman movie and he's actually going to put his money where is mouth is... maybe try to beat the record of 134 one dollar bills stuffed into mouth and a little bit in the throat...

mbcaffe | 25 Mars 2013

World Green Car of the Year is being announced at the NY auto show.

elguapo | 25 Mars 2013

@nicu I agree a secondary would be a terrible way to payoff he debt. I agree with everyone here that a secondary isn't "exciting" either. Any additional investment from Elon could, I think, make them look weak. Hard to tell here...

hsadler | 25 Mars 2013

Tesla is being bought by Yugo - who will change the name to Yugo.

Jolinar | 25 Mars 2013

He will invest his own money in TSLA in some way. The question is how much money he can invest? $50M maybe? Or $100M?

Electron | 25 Mars 2013

How much is the NYT worth these days?

hsadler | 25 Mars 2013

Going to buy Exxon and replace all the gas pumps with Superchargers.

carlk | 25 Mars 2013

It can only mean one thing. Tesla Motors is going to spend money to expand production capability either for MS or for future models.

EcLectric | 25 Mars 2013

Elon and many other visionaries delight in the idea/phrase "shut up!", and hopefully this announcement is yet another example.

"Electric vehicles are boring punishment cars for those who feel guilty about not having to walk everywhere"

"Shut up! The roadster is fast and sexy and still more efficient than your foul-smelling ICE car!"

"Uhm...electric cars are niche 'toy' cars that bored rich people buy to show off in"

"Shut up! The Model S is a four door sedan that is bigger and more practical than your BMW, leaves it in the dust, and STILL is better for the environment!"

"Er...uhm... ok. Electric cars are nice, but they're only commuter cars for city dwellers"

"Shut up! We now have superchargers that can put 150 miles in your battery while you take a half hour driving break!"

"Uhhmmm...well... it's still more expensive than my Toyota"

"Shut up! .... to be continued.

Kleist | 25 Mars 2013

@Electron - that is a good one.

My guess is he will be investing in new battery technology and/or super capacitors as a new company (with partners) or as part of Tesla. The Tesla factory has so much space it makes sense to start using part of it.

Brian H | 25 Mars 2013

Some time ago he speculated about putting SpaceX and Tesla under one holding company.

olanmills | 25 Mars 2013

My guess is that Elon Musk is going to be eating money at the Tesla factory on a webcast.

TiburonTesla | 25 Mars 2013

It will be an enhancement to a product or service (e.g. we'll have 50 more superchargers operating by this year). No way he's going to spend time hyping a major announcement to have it turn out to be a financial transaction.

Longhorn92 | 25 Mars 2013

Faster supercharging.

Sudre_ | 25 Mars 2013

He got approval for SpaceX to have a commercial launch site in Texas. The Grasshooper is working flawlessly. They will now be dropping Superchargers in from orbit.

or

NASA has commissioned a Model S with Google's self driving software to go to MARS. They are tired of it taking weeks to get anywhere.

shop | 25 Mars 2013

I like this thought: "My guess is he will be investing in new battery technology and/or super capacitors as a new company (with partners) or as part of Tesla. The Tesla factory has so much space it makes sense to start using part of it."

Now that would be exciting and a good use of his extra money, and making use of a factory that is currently only 20% utilized. If it is a secondary offering on Tesla, that would be bad. Given their high production rate, it is very possible that Tesla needs more cash now to make more money later, but the safe way to get that into Tesla now is with a loan. Elon or others could loan whatever working capital Tesla needs rather than do a dilutive share offering.

GoTeslaChicago | 25 Mars 2013

It's a puzzle. Putting money in the company would normally mean a secondary, not what we want to hear.

However if raising $200 million could bring gen III in 2 years instead of 4 perhaps.

My best bet would be that it has to do with the supercharger network. Tesla is going to spin off a separate company to run the surpercharger network. It will be capitalized at 100 million, and Elon is investing $50 million.

As a result, the nation wide supercharger network will be mostly complete by December 31st 2013, and by the way supercharging will be at 120 kw, resulting in 150 miles in 20 minutes.

shop | 25 Mars 2013

The Google self driving car is also a tantalizing thought. Google may be far enough along to want to start making driverless cars. It is interesting that the head of the driverless car project at Google (Sebastian Thrun) is focusing more of his time on his on-line education company - maybe the project is that far ahead now?